Klingon Christianity

by Mike Chong Perkinson

Life in Christ is full of twists and turns. Complicating this life of twists and turns is ministry – leading God’s people to the promised land of life and hope. One would think the journey would follow a straight line to the land of abundant life, peace, and joy. Oddly enough, our life in Christ, much like the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites, is filled with odd turns, twists, and character adjusting moments that result in agonizing flesh moments of anxiety, confusion, and fear – the pathway to trust and faith. You know, the questions that float to the surface: Why is the happening? Why isn’t my ministry going as well as Pastor Perfect? Why do I have to struggle so much while other leaders seem to coast into the Promised Land? Stop with the depressing honest questions – that’s enough reality for one day.

Maybe the problem many face in this day of self preservation and self-promotion is that we are way too much alive where we need not be and dead where we need to be alive. The leaders of God’s people tend to be just as busy, hurried, stress filled, anxious, mean, and angry as those without Christ rather than enjoying and living the abundant life of joy and peace Jesus promised. Is it possible the reason we are living so far below what God has promised is that we are dying poorly. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24, ESV) Is it possible that we remain alone and do not bear much fruit because we are way too much alive to our own agendas?

To help us here we turn to the world of Star Trek where we find some wonderful words of wisdom from the race of warriors called, the Klingons (If you are not a Trekkie our heart goes out to you and we will be praying for you). For the Klingon honor was held above life itself – honor – a word that is gradually disappearing from our vocabulary and practice. The greatest honor for the Klingon was to die in battle. In the Star Trek world it was not uncommon to hear a Klingon warrior say “Today is a good day to die.” Philosophically, the Klingon warrior lived his life in anticipation of victory in battle, willing to give his life. “A Klingon is always prepared to die.”

Like the Klingons, we are in a war, a spiritual war that involves a rather focused, angry, conniving, and evil opponent who has so powerfully been defeated by the all powerful Son of God. Strangely enough, he was beaten by the all powerful Son of God that was rejected, despised and killed. Jesus fought in a way that is foreign to our current mindset, but maybe is precisely the way the battle is won on our front. Jesus came to serve and not to be served (Mark 10:45), not counting equality with God something to be grasped (Philippians 2:6), serving the Father’s agenda and not his (John 5:19), using weapons of love, vulnerability and sacrifice that brought release and life to the captives (Luke 4:18-19).

Dear Pastor and leader maybe “today is a good day to die.” Maybe we need to rethink how we live and consider how we die. Maybe we need to redefine what success means and base it on the values of the Kingdom of God. Maybe we need to change our scorecards and assess our effectiveness differently. You know, not basing our success on the ABC’s of ministry (Attendance, Buildings, and Cash). Nothing wrong with being wise stewards of such but maybe we need new scorecards that assess our effectiveness based on how we are loving God, loving others as we love ourselves, and making disciples as we live life. Maybe we should score the transformations of people’s hearts in our ministries not just professions of faith.

Maybe we should regularly ask ourselves the question: “who are we becoming?” Ralph Waldo Emerson warns us, “A person will worship something, have no doubt about that…That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.” Do our lives reflect more today than yesterday the heart and character (fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23) of our Father?

Jesus wept over Jerusalem and was broken for her because she would not allow Him access into her heart. As leaders we tend to weep on Mondays because our attendance and tithes are low. Rather than weeping for our cities and neighborhoods because they are broken, poor, hungry, and lost without the greatest love in the universe. Again, “who am I becoming?”

It’s time that God’s servants die to human agendas and to live for honor. The honor of loving our God and doing what He asks (no matter what it is all a privilege); the honor of loving our neighbors with acts of kindness, mercy, patience, goodness, and faithfulness (loyalty). And finally, the tremendous honor we have to give away what has been given to us as we live life making disciples for our King.

Let’s honor our Master by becoming more like Him each and every day. May you discover what the Father is doing and then do it (true success). Fellow warrior, “today is a good day to die.”

And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. (Mark 8:34-35, ESV)

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21, ESV)